Powerful Hurricane Matthew Kills 26 As It Marches Closer To U.S.

MEP: Hurricane Matthew, the fiercest Caribbean storm, after lashing Cuba, Haiti and the Dominican Republic, is powering towards the Bahamas and Florida. in nearly a decade, made landfall in the Bahamas on Wednesday with torrential rains, killing at least 26 people.

Hundreds of thousands of people were evacuated in Florida and South Carolina so far.

The impending weather prompted Florida Gov. Rick Scott to ask President Obama to declare a pre-landfall emergency, activate 1,000 more National Guard members to join the 1,500 already positioned in the state and suspend all tolls in the affected areas, including the entire Florida Turnpike, Alligator Alley, Central Florida Expressway Authority and the Miami-Dade Expressway Authority.

“We are preparing for the worst, we are hoping for the best, and we’re not taking any chances,” Scott said.

NBC News meteorologist Sherri Pugh said the latest data from the National Hurricane Center indicated that Matthew could shift to a dangerous path immediately along the coast of Florida near Melbourne and Daytona Beach on Friday, resulting in landfall and hurricane conditions for millions along the coast.

The storm carved a path of devastation through western Haiti, destroying houses, dumping boats and debris on coastal roads, and heavily flooding residential areas.

Some 80 percent of homes were damaged in Haiti’s Sud Department, which has a population of more than 700,000, a government official said in a meeting with UN officials. About 11,000 people were in shelters in the province.